PATRICK Harvey enjoyed travelling to Ireland from Birmingham in his family’s 1972 Orange VW Beetle for holidays as a child.

But the clapped out car can’t make the journey any more.

So the 34-year-old teacher, from Sheldon, is currently pushing the 2300lbs car all the way to Co Donegal with his three cousins and a friend. The five men, who set off on Wednesday, are using the madcap venture to raise funds for Debra, a charity which helps to support those afflicted by the skin blistering condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa.

They expect to make the 300-mile journey in 15 days.

Mr Harvey said: “My mother has been fund raising for Debra for the past 10 years. The car is almost as old as me and my family always used to use it to drive to Donegal twice a year. ’’

His helpers are friend John Sakamoto and cousins Stephen and Brendan Quinn and Gregory Taggart, all from Ireland.